Sebastian Vettel has often been overshadowed by Daniel Ricciardo this year, but the German insists that he’s been happy to see his team mate do well.

Vettel admits that, like the RBR team management, he’s been surprised by Ricciardo’s form.

“It’s a positive surprise,” he said when asked by this writer. “It’s good to see that he’s getting along well with the team, and he fits in. We have I think similar preferences about the car in terms of set-up, there’s not much difference that we’re running. It’s good to see that he’s doing a good job. Obviously I’ve been struggling a little bit in the first couple of races, with lots of different things, but it’s good to see that the other half is doing well, and it shows the potential of the car.”

Vettel said he’d learned from comparing their data.

“Obviously he’s been fairly quick so you can imagine that there have been corners where…. he’s been fairly quick! It’s good to see that, and as I said it’s good to have a reference. It shows you what the car can do. If you look at myself, it hasn’t been the smoothest year, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Vettel said there was no pattern as to where Ricciardo gained: “Not really. You can’t say that in a certain type of corner he’s gaining time, and losing in another. I think with Mark it’s fair to say that he was very quick in high speed corners, and showing me the limits sometimes! Let’s say it’s fairly even around the lap with Daniel.”

Meanwhile with reference to Hamilton/Rosberg he said that team mates don’t have to be friends.

“I think you shouldn’t be at war with your team mate, because it hurts the team atmosphere. But you don’t have to be best friends.”